Nearly a year after being sentenced to 15 years in a state prison for the 2001 murder of Code Enforcement inspector Mickey Wright, a gray-haired Dale Mardis was wheeled into a federal courtroom Monday to face new charges in the case.
Mardis, the 54-year-old owner of a car lot on Lamar, was indicted on a federal civil rights violation and gun charges in a two-count indictment unsealed Monday. If convicted, he could get life in prison.

The new allegations say Mardis, who is white, killed Wright, who is black, because of his race.

“This constitutes a federal hate crime,” U.S. Atty. David Kustoff said at a press conference. “This statute is not used that often, but the alleged facts fit that definition.”

His body (Mickey Wright) was never found, but as part of his plea bargain last year he(Dale Mardis) said in a statement that Wright’s body was burned with diesel fuel and that any remains were put into junked automobiles and crushed. Wright was declared dead by a court on March 15, 2004. Mardis was charged four months later.

How can one only get 15 years for such a horrible crime? Thank God for the Intervention of the Justice Department. Hats off to the U. S. Attorney for the Western District of Tennessee for making sure that some form of justice will be served!Read the Entire Story Via the Commercial Appeal Newpaper

African Americans are always accused of using the race card. Many Americans feel like the African American race spends too much time focusing on slavery and that we as a people should just move on as so many other ethnicities have. Black America has suffered many injustices in the past and our climb out of the bottom of the American social order has been a long and arduous journey. However; our journey is not quite over yet. The greatest reminder of that was a recent court case in Memphis,Tennessee. In this case, a white auto dealer plead guilty to murdering a Memphis code enforcement officer, Mr. Mickey Wright, who happened to be African American. The accused stated that he not only killed the code enforcement officer, but he chopped him up into pieces and stuffed parts of his remains in vehicles that were due to be crushed. The dealer, Mr. Dale Mardis, plead guilty to murder charges and he received with the OK of the prosecution a sentence of 15 years. The dealer warned the Memphis Code Enforcement Office to not send any African American officers to inspect his property. The officer was killed while performing his official duties. How can this man receive such a short sentence for such a horrible crime? What was the prosecution thinking? I would guarantee that any black man that would kill a government employee of any stature in the course of their official duites would not get out of jail this century. Does taking a black man’s life not rank that high on the list of crimes that need to be stamped out? This is a travesty and a miscarriage of justice! Watch the video clips of various news organizations from the sentencing hearing. Please be strong because it is one of the worst things that I have ever seen! Will the killing of black men and women by whites be seen as misdemeanor offenses in the near future? There are black politicians that will receive a sentence similar to this for white collar crimes that netted them less than $100,000. A sister in Atlanta, Georgia received nearly 35 years for mortgage fraud. A young man in Tennessee could receive 20 years for just 5 rocks of crack cocaine. How does the severity of these crimes compare? Is there a justice system or is there a “just us” system?What in the world was the prosecution thinking? What weak judge would accept a plea like this? Did Lady Justice cover her up her whole head and not just her eyes? I would suggest protective custody for this virulent racist that chopped up and killed a man that was just doing his job! It is really hard out here(In America) for a brother! Mr. Wright, who is pictured below did not know that in America one can lose his life for being a brother trying to enforce the law.